Braiding the manes and tails of horses for horse shows is time consuming. There are various braid styles for different horse show classes that can require from eight to sixty individual braids per horse. Skilled artisans in the field of horse grooming have devised methods and devices for braiding horse manes and tails to make the horse's hair look stylish and to compensate for faults in the horse's physical conformation. In the horse ring, a horse's mane must be clean, trimmed and arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Braids should be tight, sturdy and uniform in width and shape. The proper number of braids should be determined by the size and shape of the horse's neck. Braids act as an optical illusion, drawing the eye to the line of the braids instead of to any irregularities in the top line of the neck.
Past methods for creating braids required the use of needles, a ‘pull through’ device and thread or yarn. When using thread, the needle must be rethreaded for each braid. Yarn braids require putting in several knots per braid to hold them in place. Traditional “hunter” or “dressage” style braids can be formed with yarn or the thread and needle method.
Once the braiding job is completed, individual braids are often rubbed out of place when the horse scratches its neck on boards or other surfaces. When a braid created with thread or yarn is rubbed out of position it must be undone and rebraided.
Elastic bands are often used instead of thread or yarn to save braiding time, but they can easily be rubbed out by the horse. An additional drawback of using elastic bands is that these are known to tear out hair when removed.
Removal of yarn or thread is time consuming and often damages the horse's mane or tail. The yarn or thread must be cut with scissors or thread rippers before pulling it out of the braid. In doing so hairs are often cut or torn.
In view of the disadvantages associated with currently available methods and devices for braiding horse hair, there is a need for a device and method that easily forms a braid, without the use of tools, which minimizes damage to the horse hair and for which decorative shapes can be easily formed and retained.